Hull to Beverley gains an extra hourly frequency

EYMS are making widespread changes to their services from Sunday 6th May. While there are service withdrawals and reductions, there are also some positives, including between Hull and Beverley.

Currently Monday to Saturday daytimes the frequency is every 15 minutes (excluding the longer 61, to become 63, via Cottingham), with three services an hour via Dunswell and Woodmansey (routes 121, 122 and 246), and one via the A1079 (route X46). Of the three Dunswell routes, a half hourly service operates into Beverley via Swinemoor Lane and Hull Bridge Road (routes 121 and 122) and an hourly service via Flemingate (route 246).

From Tuesday 8th May the 246 is doubled to half hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes between Hull and Beverley, improving access to the relatively new Flemingate shopping and leisure complex, which is also home to East Riding College. Combined with the 121 and 122 this will provide the Hull-Dunswell-Woodmansey-Beverley corridor with a service every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday daytimes (due to the different routes in Beverley, intermediate points going into Hull don't quite have an even interval service). The X46 moves 'outside' this 'every 15 minute daytime pattern' but combined with the 121/122/246 means the Hull to Beverley direct frequency becomes five buses an hour.

This is a significant and welcome improvement, especially for Dunswell and Woodmansey. It was only in May 2015 that the 122 was introduced, taking the Hull to Beverley corridor from three buses an hour to four, and the Dunswell route from half hourly to three buses per hour. Now just under three years later further increases are being made. Both Hull and Beverley City/Town Centres seem to be doing well, and the route via Dunswell and Woodmansey benefits from travelling through virtually no open countryside. When you then add in the 121, 122, one 246 per hour, and the X46 extending beyond Beverley Bus Station to serve other destinations, and hence not reliant just on Hull to Beverley inclusive passengers, there would appear to be the 'ingredients' for success.

I will review the 121 and 246 full route timetables in more detail later, but off note on service 246 between Beverley and Hull on weekdays is a new 1750 from Beverley, 30 minutes later than the previous last 246 and a new 1850 from Hull, filling the half hour gap between the 1835 121 and 1905 X46. On Saturdays there is a new 0605 service 121 from Beverley to Hull, an hour earlier than the current first service.

The 122, which after linking Hull and Beverley Sow Hill Bus Station operates as a Beverley Town Service and extends through Molescroft to Butterfly Meadows, has it's first weekday departure move 10 minutes earlier, at 0741 rather than 0751 from Butterfly Meadows. The weekday only 0800 from Sow Hill Bus Station to Butterfly Meadows and back is withdrawn - this was East Riding of Yorkshire Council subsidised until the end of March and was an extra service over and above the main hourly frequency. In the 2016 Review of Bus Services this journey and an associated extra service 520 journey was recorded as carrying an average four passengers per journey at a subsidy of £5.87 per passenger journey.

The X46 between Hull, Beverley and York is retimed, now leaving Hull Monday to Saturday daytimes at half past rather than ten minutes past the hour, and York Station at 47 rather than 17 minutes past the hour. The first departure from Hull at 0605 now operates ten minutes later on weekdays and half an hour later on Saturdays. The first departure from York is now half an hour later on Saturdays as well, at 0705 rather than 0635. There is a new 0720 from Beverley into Hull Monday to Saturday, though on Saturdays this replaces the 0750. Weekdays now have a 90 minute gap on the Pocklington to Hull section between 0805 and 0935 but on Saturdays the morning Beverley to Hull service remains a consistent hourly frequency.

In the evenings Monday to Saturday the 1810 from Hull to York terminates at Beverley, with the last Hull to York service now at 1730 Monday to Thursday; the 1910 Hull to Pocklington remains, as does the Friday and Saturday 2005 from X47 from Hull to York. Departures from York across the X46/X47 drop from 14 (Mon-Thu)/15 (Fri+Sat) to 13/14, with the last service slightly earlier at 1947 rather than 2008 Monday to Thursday and 2205 rather than 2223 Friday and Saturday.